According to a new study, cannabinoids could interact with prescription medicines.
Penn State researchers set out recently to see how marijuana would impact drugs Americans were already taking and surprisingly found many problems.
Kent Vrana, PhD, a professor of pharmacology at Penn State said, “The remarkable finding was that we identified 57 drugs that have a narrow therapeutic index.”
That means the range of efficacy to toxicity is very narrow and the presence of cannabinoids, chemicals found in cannabis, may tip the scale to the dark side.
One medicine Vrana remarked on was blood thinner Coumadin. “It turns out if someone were on that medication and we’re suddenly to add a high dose of cannabinoid, no matter what the source, they are at risk for interfering with the metabolism of that Coumadin and have an adverse reaction,” Vrana said.
“When the states legalize recreational or medical marijuana, what’s not taken into account is the fact that it may interfere with prescription drugs,” Vrana added.
“There are a number of drugs that are cardiac related, some antibiotics and interestingly enough an anesthetic called propofol.”
“Folks that are heavy users of recreational marijuana for instance take more propofol to sedate for surgery,” Vrana said.
“People don’t disclose whether it is because they’re using an illicit recreational marijuana or CBD oil that they could get over-the-counter, or medical marijuana they don’t think of that as a medication necessarily,” Vrana explained. “I don’t want to paint necessarily that it is a bad thing. It’s just something that we need to monitor and be careful about. … They are very bio active and powerful.”
“We have shown that all CBD oils are not created equal. And so the FDA for instance, just had to recall a CBD oil preparation that had too much lead in it,” Vrana said. “I would caution people against using over-the-counter CBD oils for instance. And if they are using, whether it’s CBD oil or recreational marijuana, just disclose that to your doctor so they can plan how they are going to treat you with other medications.”
The researchers plan to routinely update and add to the drug interaction list as newer medcations are approved.
